Snubbed truck



N 1954 w. L. SCHLEGEL, JR 2,694,985

SNUBBED TRUCK Filed Aug. 16, 1950 INVENTOR.

United States Patent Ofifice 2,6943% Patented Nov. 23, 1954 SNUBBED TRUCK Walter L. Schlegel, Jr., Chicago, Ill., assignor to American gteel Foundries, Chicago, Iil., a corporation of New ersey Application August 16, 1950, Serial No. 179,851 16 Claims. (Cl. 105-197) This invention relates to railway car trucks and more particularly to a type incorporating snubbing means for squaring the truck parts and damping relative movement between the bolster and the side frames interconnected thereby.

A general object of the invention is to design a truck incorporating novel snubbing means carried by the bolster and frictionally engaging the side frame columns of each side frame.

More specifically the invention contemplates such a snubbing arrangement wherein the friction assembly is accommodated frictional movement against the bolster transversely thereof to resist transverse movements of the bolster, the arrangement thus afl'ording an eflicient control of such movements without imposing excessive stresses on the side frame columns or the bolster.

A further object of the invention is to arrange the friction parts in such a way as to prevent movements of the friction shoes relative to the bolster to thus prevent chattering due to such relative movements.

The invention comprehends a friction arrangement incorporating a single wedge for urging a pair of friction shoes against the side frame columns, the wedge being actuated by a horizontal spring compressed between the wedge and a spring seat in the bolster inwardly of the wedge, the shoes and the wedge or the bolster having a wedge action to hold the shoes tightly in position against the bolster structure to prevent the before-mentioned chattering.

These and other objects of the invention will become more apparent from the specification and the drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary side elevational view of a railway car truck embodying the invention, the view being partly in section on the line 11 of Figure 2;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary sectional view taken substantially on the line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken substantially on the line 33 of Figure 1 with the shoe in end view and only one side frame being shown, inasmuch as the truck is symmetrical about its longitudinal center line; and

Figure 4 is a modification of the invention, the view being comparable to Figure 3.

Describing the invention in detail and referring first to Figures 1 to 3, the invention is shown embodied in a conventional railway car truck comprising a side frame 2 at each side thereof. The side frame is of usual design and comprises a tension member 4, a compression member 6 and spaced upright columns 8, 8 joining with said tension and compression members and defining a bolster opening 10 therewith substantially centrally of the frame.

The tension member beneath the bolster opening is of box-section and comprises top and bottom walls 12 and 14 and spaced inboard and outboard Walls 16 and 18. The top wall 12 is widened to provide a spring seat 17 on which are seated a plurality of coil springs 19, 19 diagrammatically illustrated. The springs may be held on the seat 17 by any convenient retaining means, if desired, as well known in the art. The upper ends of the springs 19 seat as at 20 against the underside of a bottom wall 22 of a bolster structure, generally indicated 24, the bolster structure extending into the bolster opening 10.

The bolster structure is preferably a single casting but if desired may be formed of separable parts, and comprises a top wall 26 and spaced side walls 28, 28 interconnecting the top and bottom walls 26 and 22. The bolster is formed at opposite sides thereof adjacent each extremity with substantially coplanar outboard Walls 34 30, said outboard walls 30 extending substantially vertically and interconnecting said top and bottom walls and extending transversely of the bolster. The walls 30, 30 define the outboard extremity of a pocket 32 (Figure 2), said pocket being open at opposite ends to the opposite columns 8, 8.

The pocket contains a friction shoe 34 adjacent each column and a wedge 36 intermediate the shoes.

Each shoe 34 has a substantially vertical friction surface 38 at its outer end in engagement as at 40 with a wear plate 42 attached in any convenient manner, as by welding, to a transverse wall 44 of the adjacent column 8. Each shoe has on its outboard side a substantially vertical friction face 46 in engagement as at 48 with a friction surface 50 on the inboard side of the adjacent wall 30. The inner end of each shoe is provided with a wedge surface 52, the wedge surface 52 sloping upwardly toward the adjacent column and also extending diagonally inwardly toward the inner side of the shoe. Considering the vertical central plane bisecting the bolster longitudinally as a datum plane, each wedge surface 52 slopes downwardly toward the plane and the wedge surfaces 52 also diverge from the plane inboardly of the bolster. The surfaces 52, 52 are engaged with complementary surfaces 54, 54 at opposite sides of the wedge, said surfaces 54, 54 converging outboardly of the bolster and also converging downwardly.

It will be seen that the arrangement of the wedge surfaces causes the fiat top side of the wedge to engage as at 56 the flat underside of the top walls 26 of the bolster and thus simultaneously the shoes are caused to engage on their flat bottom sides as at 58, 58 the fiat top side of the bottom walls 22 of the bolster. The wedge also causes the shoes to spread apart and to move along walls 30, 30 and wall 22 outwardly of the pockets and into engagement with the friction plates 42, 42. If desired, the surfaces 52 and the engaged wedge surfaces may slope downwardly rather than upwardly toward respective columns 8 to urge the shoes against the top bolster wall 26.

The wedge is urged into engagement with the shoes by a coil spring 60 horizontally positioned, the spring 60 seating at its outer end against a spring seat 62 on the inner end of the wedge and being positioned on the seat 62 by a boss 64 thereon. The other or inner end of the spring extends into a pocket 66 and seats as at 68 against a spring seat web 70 which extends substantially vertically and is connected at its upper end to the bottom side of the top wall 26 of the bolster. The spring seat 70 is reinforced and the pocket 66 is further defined by spaced side walls 72, 72 which extend from the lateral edges of the seat wall 70 forwardly therefrom and at their upper ends are connected to the bottom side of the top wall 26 of the bolster.

The bolster is provided with spaced inboard and outboard guide lugs or gibs 74 and 76, the lugs 76 being of lesser depth than the widened portions 78, 78 at the bottom of the bolster opening and adapted to pass therethrough for assembly and disassembly of the bolster with respect to the frame in conventional manner.

To disassemble the arrangement, the bolster is elevated to the top of the bolster opening, the springs 19, 19 are removed; the bolster is lowered to the bottom of the bolster opening and withdrawn whereupon the wedge will urge the shoes outwardly, whereby the shoes may be removed from the pockets. The spring 60 of course will expand whereupon the wedge 36 is unseated with the boss 64 out of the spring and then the wedge may be shifted laterally of the bolster and withdrawn from either end of the pocket 32. The spring 60 may then be withdrawn through an opening 80 defined between adjacent edges of walls 30, 30 and the top and bottom walls 26 and 22 of the bolster.

To assemble, the procedure is reversed. The assembly may be held within a suitable clamp and the shoes may be retracted to a position aligning vertical openings 82 therein with vertical openings 84 and 86 in the top and bottom wall of the bolster and through which openings a retaining bar (not shown) may be inserted to hold the shoes in retracted position to facilitate assembly of the bolster with the side frame. The same assembly bars and method may be used to facilitate withdrawal of the bolster from the side frame.

Referring now to Figure 4, the bolster 24 is similar to that shown in the previous embodiment and like parts are identified by corresponding reference numerals.

It will be seen that in the present embodiment the top and bottom walls 26 and 22 are interconnected at each side by a transverse wall 102, the wall 1&2 sloping upwardly inboardly of the bolster to provide a diagonal surface 104 on its inboard side in complementary engagement with a downwardly sloping diagonal surface tee on the outboard side of the asssociated shoe 103. The shoe 108 is similar to shoe 34 with the exception that the double slope of the wedge surfaces 52 is preferably but not necessarily eliminated, and the wedge 36 preferably engages the inner ends of the shoes along substantially vertical surfaces which converge outwardly or cutboardly of the bolster. The wedge is actuated by the spring 6!), seated at 68 against a spring seat 110 which extends substantially vertically and is connected at its bottom end to the top side of the bottom wall of the bolster. The side webs 72 of the previous embodiment are eliminated. In the present embodiment, the wedge engages the top side of the bottom wall and urges the shoes toward the outboard walls whereby the shoes are caused to slide downwardly and engage on their bottom sides as at 112 the top side of the bottom wall 22. The shoes are spread apart and urged against the respective columns by the wedge 36.

It will be understood that if desired the wall 162 may slope upwardly and outboardly toward the top bolster wall 26 to engage the shoes 34 therewith.

It will be seen that a simple arrangement is provided for maintaining the shoes in tight engagement with the bolster and at the same time the assembly provides a floating action transversely of the bolster, of simple construction and easy to assemble and disassemble and affords an efficient control of the movements between the bolster and side frames.

I claim:

1. In a railway car truck, a side frame comprising spaced upright friction areas extending widthwise transversely of the frame, a bolster spring-supported from the frame between said areas and comprising a pocket open to the areas, shoes within the pocket adjacent respective areas and in engagement therewith and with the bottom of the pocket, and actuating means for urging the shoes against respective areas and against the bottom of the pocket and including a wedge interposed between the shoes and in wedging engagement therewith and wedged between the shoes and the top of the pocket.

2. In a railway car truck, a side frame comprising a pair of spaced columns, a bolster spring-supported from the frame between said columns, said bolster comprising a pocket open at one end to one column and at the other end to the other column, said pocket being defined in part by spaced outboard walls disposed adjacent each side of the bolster, said walls in part defining an opening therebetween communicating with the pocket from the adjacent end of the bolster, a shoe at each end of the pocket in frictional engagement at its outboard side with the inboard side of the adjacent wall, and at its bottom side with a bolster surface at the bottom of the pocket and at its outer end with the adjacent column along substantially vertical surfaces extending transversely of the frame, said shoes presenting at their inner ends wedge faces diverging inwardly of the bolster, a wedge interposed between said faces and in complementary engagement therewith, a spring seat on the wedge facing inboardly of said shoes, a coil spring extending axially longitudinally of the bolster and located substantially centrally between the sides of the bolster, an integral spring seat in the bolster inboardly of the spring seat, said spring being compressed between and hearing at its inner and outer ends against said integral spring seat and said spring seat on the wedge, respectively, said opening accommodating easy insertion and withdrawal of said spring through the adjacent end of the bolster with respect to said pocket for assembly and disassembly.

3. A railway car truck, comprising a side frame including spaced friction areas, a bolster member movably supported between said areas and comprising spaced top and bottom walls in part defining a pocket open at each side of the bolster member to the adjacent frictlon area, a shoe at each side of the bolster member within the pocket andengaging the adjacent friction area at one end of said shoe, friction faces on the bolster member at one side of the pocket and extending angularly with respect to said areas and in engagement with corresponding sides of said shoes, said shoes slidably engaging one of said walls, a wedge member interposed between the inner ends of said shoes, said wedge member and shoes engaging each other along surfaces converging toward said faces, a spring seat wihin the bolster member and movable in unison therewith, spring means compressed longitudinally of the bolster member between said wedge member and said seat for urging the wedge member into engagement with said inner ends of said shoes and thereby urging said shoes against the related faces and areas, and cooperating wedge means on one of said members and said shoes for holding the shoes tightly against said one wall during vertical movements of the bolster member relative to said friction areas.

4. A truck, according to claim 3, wherein said surfaces on the bolster and outboard sides of the shoes slope upwardly inwardly of the bolster whereby the shoes and surfaces have wedging engagement with each other thus urging the shoes downwardly against an upwardly facing surface of the bolster.

5. A truck, according to claim 3, wherein said surfaces and outboard sides of the shoes slope inwardly of the bolster and said bolster comprises at least one surface angularly related to said surfaces against which an adjacent side of each shoe is urged.

6. A railway car truck, comprising a side frame including a pair of spaced friction areas, a bolster member movably supported between said areas and comprising spaced top and bottom walls in part defining a pocket Open at each side of the bolster member to the adjacent friction area, a shoe at each side of the bolster member within the pocket and engaging at one end the adjacent friction area, friction faces on the bolster member at the outboard extremity of the pocket and extending perpendicular to said areas and in engagement with the outboard sides of said shoes, said shoes slidably engaging on their bottom sides the top side of said bottom wall, a wedge member interposed between the inner ends of said shoes, said wedge member and shoes engaging each other along surfaces converging toward the adjacent end of the bolster member, said wedge member frictionally engaging one of said walls, a fixed spring scat within the bolster member inboardly of said wedge member, spring means compressed longitudinally of the bolster member between said wedge member and said seat, and cooperating wedge means on one of said members and said shoes for holding the latter tightly against said bottom wall of the bolster member during vertical movements of the bolster member relative to said friction areas.

7. A railway car truck, according to claim 6, wherein said resilient means urges said wedge member and shoes toward the adjacent end of the bolster member and said wedge means are disposed at the outboard sides of the shoes and portions of the bolster member thereadjacent.

8. A railway car truck, according to claim 6, wherein said wedge means are located on the wedge member and the inner ends of the shoes and are part of the converging surfaces thereon and converge downwardly.

9. A railway car truck comprising supporting and supported relatively movable members, one of said members presenting spaced friction areas, the other member extending between said areas, said other member having a pocket with a side surface extending substantially perpendicular to said area, a friction shoe adjacent each friction area in engagement therewith and with said surface and with an adjacent side of the pocket, and means in said pocket for urging the shoes against said surface and said adjacent side of the pocket and against respective areas.

10. A railway car truck, according to claim 9, wherein said means includes a vertically sloping arrangement of said surface and engaging side of each shoe, the surface converging with said adjacent side of the pocket.

11. In a railway car truck, a side frame comprising spaced columns, a bolster structure movably supported between said columns, said structure having top and bottom walls and having shoe engaging faces between said walls,.friction shoesengaging said faces and columns, a unitary wedge structure in engagement with said shoes along complementary surfaces of the wedge structure and tightly against one of said top and bottom walls under the action of said spring means.

12. A railway car truck comprising a frame with spaced columns, a bolster structure spring-supported by said frame between said columns, said structure comprising top and bottom internal surfaces and comprising a pair of shoe engaging faces therebetween, a fixed spring seat on said structure, shoes engaging respective faces and respective columns, said shoes engaging one of said surfaces, and actuating means for said shoes comprising wedge means engaging the other surface, said wedge means having a pair of wedge faces engaging respective shoes along areas converging toward the first-mentioned faces, the faces of one pair sloping toward said one surface, and spring of said structure and comand bottom walls and having shoe seating faces between said walls, friction shoes engaging respective faces and respective columns, a single wedge member engaged with said shoes along complementary planar wedge faces of the wedge member converging toward said first mentioned faces, spring means compressed by and between mutually facing spring seats of said members for urging the wedge member into said engagement with the shoes, the faces on one of said nvcmbers and the areas of the shoes engaged with said last mentioned faces into tight engagement against one of said walls during vertical movement of the bolster member relative to said columns.

14. A railway car truck, according to claim 1, in which a compression spring extends longitudinally of the bolster and has one of its ends engaging said wedge.

15. A railway car truck, according to claim 1, in which said abutment is provided with a fixed spring seat, and a compression spring is interposed between said wedge and said spring seat.

16. A railway car truck, according to claim 1, in which said abutment is provided with a fixed spring seat, and a compression spring is interposed between said wedge and said spring seat, said wedge and shoes having complementary surfaces converging downwardly and also converging toward the adjacent end of the bolster.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,712,908 Symington May 14, 1929 2,365,198 Lehrman Dec. 19, 1944 2,485,508 Pierce Oct. 18, 1949 2,514,776 Mangels July 11, 1950 

